Alexander Forsyth
Medium
mezzotint and engraving in black on wove paper mounted to brown wove paper
Dimensions
image (irregular): 5.56 × 5.56 cm (2 3/16 × 2 3/16 in.) sheet (trimmed to plate): 6.67 × 6.19 cm (2 5/8 × 2 7/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection (Gift of William Wilson Corcoran)
Accession Number
2015.19.1584.21.4
Art Historical Context
This intimate portrait of Alexander Forsyth, created in 1802 by French-born artist Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de-Mémin, captures the refined elegance of early American portraiture. Working in the United States after fleeing the French Revolution, Saint-Mémin specialized in small-scale profile likenesses produced with the aid of a physiognotrace, a mechanical device that traced a sitter’s profile with remarkable accuracy. These compact images, often measuring just two inches across, served as personal keepsakes for a growing class of professionals and statesmen in the young republic. The ...
About the Artist
Charles B. J. Févret de Saint-Mémin
**Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin** Born on March 12, 1770, in Dijon, France, to marquis Bénigne-Charles Févret de Saint-Mémin, a former conseiller au Parlement de Bourgogne, and Victoire-Marie de Motmans, a creole from Port-au-Prince, Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin received a military education at the École Militaire in Paris, graduating in 1785. He served as a cad...